257 Ohio Home Care Workers Being Let Go by New York Based Firm

For a reason not provided by its parent company, Personal Touch Home Care of Ohio, Inc. will be shutting down its operations throughout the state. That means a total of 257 home care workers will soon be out of work. All employee terminations (also referred to as ‘separations’) will be completed by April 20.

Personal Touch Home Care is based out of New York and offered no reason as to why it would effectively be shutting down all of its operations throughout Ohio, but there was no indication that employees in New York or other regions would be affected by this change.

“Personal Touch Home Care, founded in 1974, provides home health care personnel and related services to individuals in their homes 24 hours per day, seven days per week. According to its website, Personal Touch employs some 12,000 paraprofessionals and about 3,0000 nurses. It has 35 locations in 10 states with more than 25 locations certified by Medicare. Each office is licensed by the state in which it operates.

In addition to traditional home health services, Personal Touch has developed specialty programs including mental health, pediatric, maternal/child, hospice, rehabilitation and others. Personal Touch also provides on a limited basis supplementary staffing to nursing homes and hospitals.”

Some of the workers who are to be impacted by this include home care aides, occupational therapists, office staff, registered nurses, and nurse practitioners. There’s been no word on how those seniors and disabled adults who have been relying on Personal Touch Home Care of Ohio, Inc. will receive support services once all terminations are final. In the letter that company CEO Rob Caione sent to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, there was no apparent explanation for the closures or what would take place to assist clients find support services elsewhere.

As home care demand increases, there are numerous questions surrounding this decision to shutter operations in an entire state. The U.S. Department of Labor has included home care workers under the same labor law protections and with the demand for increased wages for lower wage workers, it’s placing increased pressure on many home care agencies to become more streamlined and efficient with the services they offer.

There’s been no immediate word from the workers who will be affected by this change and no further comment from company representatives has been noted.

For a reason not provided by its parent company, Personal Touch Home Care of Ohio, Inc. will be shutting down its operations throughout the state. That means a total of 257 home care workers will soon be out of work. All employee terminations (also referred to as ‘separations’) will be completed by April 20.